BoU Confession: We Don’t Have Inventory Report For Closed Teefe Bank

Bank of Uganda officials led by Governor Emmanuel Mutebile, his deputy Louis Kasekende and Executive Director in charge of Supervision Tumubweine Twinemanzi have yet again failed to present key documents they relied on to close Teefe Trust Bank to the investigative committee of Parliament.

Appearing for the second day before The Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) chaired by Hon. Abdul Katuntu Mr. Mutebile and his team had no idea of the whereabouts of the inventory of Teefe which was closed in 1993.

Responding to the query, BoU’s Twinemanzi confessed to the MPs that he had failed to trace the inventory of Teefe Bank in the Central Bank’s archives. His confession drew ire among MPs who questioned whether BoU had no report or deliberately rejected to provide the document for selfish reasons.

On Monday Mr Mutebile and his colleagues met with COSASE members to respond to the Auditor General’s queries he raised in his 80 page report following an extensive investigation in the closure of seven banks including highly contested sale of Crane Bank which belonged to affluent businessman Sudhir Ruparelia.

In his investigation, Mr John Muwanga indicated that Bank of Uganda didn’t avail him with records detailing the liquidation of Teefe Bank after which it was deemed bankrupt and shutdown.

“I was not availed with the Inventory report, loan schedules, customer deposit schedules and Statements of affairs of Teefe Trust Bank to enable me to fulfill the specific audit objectives. Due to this limitation, I could not assess the status of the assets and liabilities of Teefe Trust Bank from closure to date,” Muwanga said in his report.

Kalungu West legislator Joseph Sewungu was prompted to conclude that Bank of Uganda’s failure to avail the documents is s systemic move to ‘bury evidence’ which implicates the officials in the illegal closure of the seven banks.